


Who I Am

by kcanwtv



Category: The Uniques (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Uniques Fanfic Contest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcanwtv/pseuds/kcanwtv
Summary: Motherboard and Quake fall in love, get married, and find a bright future together.
Relationships: Motherboard/Quake (The Uniques), Nikki/Jack (The Uniques)





	Who I Am

**Author's Note:**

> "And I'd give up forever to touch you  
> 'Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
> You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
> And I don't want to go home right now~"  
> \- Iris, Goo Goo Dolls

Numbness was an understatement. 

Jack couldn’t put his mind to a word that screams, “Life-Is-Fucking-Stupid,” Maybe it was becasue he wasn’t in a mood at all. That always seemed like a good excuse whenever he doesn’t want to talk about his problems. 

It was supposed to be a day-off for the team. With the new election for Madison’s new mayor, Hope decided that the team needed a breather from anything politics related. And since today was the day before voting, the small town cooled down from anything too major, which meant no riots, no assassinations, and definitely no drama. The New Guard were free to do whatever they wanted to clear their heads from their duties, Nikki was having another session at her house with her Michael and Hope decided to pay a trip to her parents’ old home, Katie and Matt were on a date at the arcade, and Jay took a step out of his comfort zone by doing something without Jack by helping out with planning Madison’s first U-Ball league. Everyone had something to do with the people they loved… except for Jack.

Not that he had any loved ones in his childhood, Jay also didn’t have that much family and friends except for his grandma, but that doesn’t mean he’s made new friends in the present. Scout and Kid Quick were the first kids his age he ever befriended ever since he became an outcast, and the little ones back at the community centre adored their new U-Ball coach. Jack didn’t have anyone at all, past and present. Except for Jay, of course. 

His erotic love life eroded with time as he grew more conscious about the government. He’d rather care about what law they would throw about the rights of the Uniques rather than make out with another hottie. The people who inspired him to keep doing what he was doing weren’t that helpful at all, scratch that. The person who inspired Jack to rebel against the American government was dead. Without any positive and healthy influences, of course Jack would feel like crap. 

Occasionally. 

Jack decided to head up to the rooftop garden to get some fresh air, taking a seat on the swing and leaning back to admire the night sky. “This is nice,” He thought to himself. 

Proceeding to focus on a star that caught his attention, he chuckled. It’s been a long time since he has made a wish upon a star just like Pinocchio, a longer time since he did the same thing when he was just a child, so that’s what he did. He muttered, “Hey, I know that we haven’t been talking for some time… Stuff’s being catching up and I just wanted to get something off of my chest, 

“So… Life’s been complicated, really fucking complicated. I wish that life would be less of a dick, give me a miracle, please?” 

Stars weren’t able to respond, Jack was met with the howl of the night gale. 

“Heh,” Jack smirked, “Silent treatment’s still something.” 

This wasn’t the first miracle he had hoped for. Throughout his life, he had been granted two miracles. The first was to get rid of his shitty mom, which was granted through child services that tried their best. The second was to be a hero just like The Current. While he wasn’t a terrorist or a psychopath, Jack’s miracle was granted through helping a beaten part of Madison City get rid of its crime triad. He received an abundance of praise from families freed from the dread of paying up to corrupt governors, and drove out the Shuen Ying Triad for good. That was the start of his career as a streetside vigilante. He didn’t cause much trouble among the authorities, so he was on the clear from the cops. 

Suddenly, the door leading towards the roof swung open. Jack turned towards the large clang quickly, furrowing his brows to see… Nikki? 

The brunette cocked her head to one side, “Jack? What are you doing up here?” She curiously asked. 

“Shouldn’t I be asking you the same thing?” Jack countered, “Seriously, don’t you have a game back home now?” 

Nikki shrugged, “Our Dungeon Master caught a stomach bug, the rest of the party were convinced that it was contagious and the game was postponed to next Saturday instead. Bunch of wusses if you asked me.” 

“Yeah, right.” 

“Mind if I join your brooding session?” 

Jack nodded, motioning over for her to join him on the swing. 

He found Nikki an interesting person. Unlike the hookups that he participated in a long time ago, Nikki was completely different from the girls he met. She wasn’t superficial, annoying, or relied on her looks to get whatever the hell she wanted. Nikki knew she was a badass when she was born, not because there was a hottie like Jack to validate her appearance. All in all, Jack admired her personality.

Hell, Jack would even consider being in a serious relationship with her. 

“Huh.” Nikki started, “I’ve never seen you like this before,” 

Jack gave her a side-eye while trying his best not to seem agitated. “Like what?” 

“Seeing you up on the roof and contemplating on your life decisions, that’s what.” She replied with a hint of a snicker, “I know that look, Jack. I’ve seen it on those heartthrob soap operas and I can’t get the weird look out of my head,” Laughing softly to herself in order to loosen the tension. 

“I guess it’s because I am contemplating on my life decisions.” Jack pressed his lips with a slight frown.

“Oh,” Nikki averted her gaze from the blonde to not seem pushy, “Okay,” She murmured, not wanting to pressure him for answers. 

The night breeze proceeded to lessen its howl to a simple breeze, as if it's making the silence between them even more awkward by thickening the tension.

She sighed, “Sorry for coming up unannounced, I’m uh… I’m gonna head back downstairs now-” 

“Please,” Jack called out hurriedly, then in a softer tone saying, “I could really use some company.” 

Nikki’s instincts began to tingle. She knew something heavy was bothering Jack, and Jack was never bothered by anything besides being forced to comply against the rules. “Okay,” She began to scoot closer to Jack. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” She gently probed. 

A penny for his thoughts? Boy, would Jack be riled up by those four words. The whole universe was getting screwed over so hard until no one knew what to believe in anymore. The fucking Taskforce betrayed the country, the fight between the traitors and the team was so severe until so many of them had to question their morals. Almost everyone in the New Guard held some responsibility over killing the members. He triggered an explosion in Monument’s heart, Kid Quick played a part in suffocating Paul Revere to death with Scout’s goo-bombs, As for their leader, Hope felt the most devastated for what she did. 

She shot Countryman in the head, who also happened to be one of her childhood friends.

For heaven’s sake, they placed so much on their backs until they were considered the new defenders of Madison. TeenForce3 weren’t that much of a help since they were set up by a corporation to boost the agency’s image. They were what society viewed as ‘Model Uniques,’. Uniques who were perfect enough to be seen in the media. 

Was it really necessary for the Guard to go through so much trauma so that other Uniques would get discriminated upon more often? No one knew why, no one even bothered to care except for Jack and Jay, who both knew the struggles of having ‘socially unacceptable’ powers. Trying hard not to get killed were their priorities other than winning bar brawls. The brothers believed that joining the team would allow them to do some justice to the rights of every Unique, not expecting that exploding peoples’ hearts and reliving childhood trauma were part of their daily agenda. And for them to endure so much shit until more public uproars involving Uniques arise? Not cool. 

Although Jack wanted to vent his frustrations, there were still his inner demons still holding him back. Debating whether they should be shared with his teammate and get outed as a terrible person. 

Jack said fuck it.

“It’s just, there’s loads of stuff going on lately.” He remarked, “The mayoral election, Gnashville making their appearance in Madison, I don’t even know if things are back to normal at all since…” 

“Maestro was defeated?” Nikki added. 

“No, it’s not that… The riots downtown, more Uniques are getting pissed over the stupid new law. I don’t know if it’s me but that Dickwad’s actually ecstatic to see the Uniques getting more oppressed.” Jack felt his words slip through him easily, speaking faster as his anger overpowered him, “We brought down a military team in Washington, just so the system would take it for granted and screw us up even more. Not to mention, we don’t even know everyone in the team is honest with each other. Look at Hope and Michael. All they’ve been doing is taking every opportunity just so they can focus on whatever the hell they’ve been doing.” 

Nikki’s mouth curled into a frown as Jack said his last sentence, “I guess you’re right on that last part.” She leaned back onto her seat, “As much as I love Hope, I don’t even know if she’s putting her heart into the team anymore. Something’s gotten into her, I know so. My best friend isn’t the type to dip out on something just so she can hang out more with Michael.” 

“See?” Jack’s mood lifted slightly, “At least someone knows that I’m not pulling the jealousy card when it comes to Hope. I don’t even know what’s going on. The only place where Uniques can actually live a happy life’s now destroyed, and the leader who promised to keep them safe was responsible. 

“Was everything, every single fucking thing been a lie this whole time?” Jack seethed.

“...Has everything I’ve done been a lie?” He questioned, this time in a smaller voice than before. 

Nikki’s eyes widened as she witnessed her teammate recover from his meltdown. She had seen the multiple times where he had been ‘rah-rah’-ing about how unjust the government was, yet never seen him go through an existential crisis like this. 

She knew this was something serious. 

Jack covered his face with a palm, silently groaning. “We’ve done so much already, how much more do we need to do to stop everything else?” 

“Oh, c’mere...” Nikki interlocked her fingers with Jack’s free hand, not too tight that will make him more tense, and not too loose to make Jack think that she doesn’t care. With the right amount of grasp, she was able to decelerate his hyperventilations. “You’re not a failure, Jack. I’ve been with you for an entire year to know that you have the biggest heart on the team.” She soothed. 

“Doesn’t feel that way at all,” 

“No,” Nikki said firmly, “Don’t undermine yourself, you’ve been doing more than enough for Madison. Stop putting more pressure on your shoulders to carry.” 

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do, Nikki?” Jack replied exasperatedly, “Just watch as the paths continue winding until I don’t even know where the hell I’m headed?” 

Nikki ran through her mind to think of a good way to comfort her friend. She’s never been that experienced when handling mushy feelings. Giving heart-to-hearts weren’t that much of a forte for a girl surrounded by computers and stupid smart family… Hold on a minute. 

Back when Nikki and Kyle were in their first years of elementary school, Bill would always use the same old technique to help his younger siblings feel less shitty about a bad day with a dickwad teacher. And that was to encourage them to take situations into their own hands and find a good solution to cope with their problems. 

“Then where do you think you’re headed?” 

“Well, for starters…” 

\- 

Nikki Carter pinched the bridge of her nose for the forty-seventh time, keeping count for every time she winced at what her son’s teacher said to her before. She believed, if she had a penny for every stupid thing he ever did, she could start up another technology company… In Manhattan. Which was a lot of money and a lot of effort put in. 

“It wasn’t even my fault to begin with-” Said T.J Carter from the back of the family car.

“Terran James.” Nikki enunciated each name slowly with a hint of warning. 

The elder Carter child pouted and crossed his arms in response. 

It had been approximately twenty years since Nicolette and Jack had their heart-to-heart back at the rooftop garden of the New Guard HQ. Hanging out more gradually grew to daily conversations, which led to night-outs at Jack and Jay’s regular pub, which led to the two developing more than just a strong platonic bond… The romantic tension was cut swiftly after they admitted that they had feelings for each other, opening up to the team about their new relationship status. 

No one ever thought that their encounter would lead to something unexpected. Hope simply smiled and congratulated her best friend for ending up with a great guy, already losing her childhood crush after hearing Michael confess his feelings to her after the defeat of the evil psion. Jay was just glad that he could finally be related to someone as cool as MB, hypothetically of course. 

Things took a turn for the better for the young couple. Jack finally took up the offer from the U.S government to be part of the Taskforce of the 21st century after loads of encouragement from his newly engaged fiance, Nikki, who decided to follow her parents’ initial footsteps by accepting a job at CALIBRE as their junior tech specialist. The ecstatic hacker initially thought she was satisfied with everything that happened within the year… 

Until Jack decided to propose to her with a simple, yet elegant wedding band embedded with tiny peridot gems (He thought that it would match her eyes, it did). Not to mention he took some time out of his duties to travel to the rooftop of their currently abandoned, former headquarters, to make his proposal have a bigger sentimental value. It was then after heavy consideration that the couple would take Nikki’s maiden name, Carter, as Jack was afraid that his family name would besmirch the couple’s reputation for being related to a bunch of jerks back in Haven.

Despite loving her husband, she still had her moments of frustration after getting called to the Principal’s office to be told of what crazy thing her son was up to that time. Oh wait, that was happening right now. 

Nikki parked her Honda Amaze as she forcefully dragged her son to the elevator of their apartment back in Seattle. “Dammit, what’s Jack going to think of this?” She muttered angrily to herself. She really didn’t want to interrupt her husband’s important superhero duties with T.J’s childish antics, but this was Jack. Of course he cared about his children, even when one of them got themselves suspended for the third time. 

“Thank god you’re on time,” Nikki said as she noticed a glowing blue circle gradually growing on one of the walls of the Carter household, knowing well that the portal was thanks to her latest invention, the TelePorts (She wanted to dub these nifty gadgets Portkeys, but decided against the idea after fearing copyright claims from J.K Rowling). She sighed, “Honey, I’m so sorry that you had to leave work so abruptly-” 

“No, Nik. It’s alright!” Jack reassured, still wearing his new uniform sent in as a welcome gift from his new team. Replicating a motocross outfit with a brown leather jacket and pants, perfectly armoured, obviously. “Is T.J okay? Is Gemma okay?” 

“Anything you would like to say, young man?” Nikki glared at the younger, blonde boy. 

T.J crossed his arms, “My classmate was getting picked on by a bunch of bullies during recess today. They said that he had twice the chance to be locked up in a concentration camp because his parents were Mexican immigrants, and he had scales for skin.” T.J’s expression darkened considerably as he explained his case to his parents, “When he tried to tell them to stop, they kept calling him really rude names. It got so bad until he was pushed onto the ground, and got his lunch bag squashed onto the pavement. I don’t know, I just got really mad.” 

“...Then I tried to go up to tell them to quit messing with him. They managed to push him to one side and stop picking on him, but started to tell me that the reason why he should be sent back was because his powers didn’t do society any good… Then said that I was lucky to have Quake as my dad because apparently superhero groups were only capable of producing ‘good’ Uniques. That’s why I dislocated the leader’s jaw with my powers, and got myself suspended.” T.J’s voice faded as he mentioned his consequence, afraid of what type of punishment his parents would declare. 

Jack and Nikki couldn’t feel their feet at all, growing numb from every sentence their son said in his story. Maybe it was because they were shocked that he had a valid reason for getting suspended, maybe because they (mostly Jack) were thrilled that their son was inadvertently becoming a hero like his dad. 

“So…” T.J piped up after the uncomfortable silence, “Do you guys need to put a power dampener or something?” 

Nikki replied immediately, “You’re grounded…”

T.J’s face fell right after hearing what his mom said, “However... you can continue your boxing training with your father during your school hours. Sounds like a good idea to you, Jack?” Nikki struck up her idea to her husband. 

“Sounds like a perfect idea, honey.” Jack reaffirmed, giving up his resistance against letting a smirk slip out. 

T.J’s shoulders lightened as he processed his father’s agreement. He grinned slightly, “Thanks mom! Thanks dad!” 

Nikki couldn’t help but chuckle at her son’s enthusiasm too, “Okay, T.J, you can only come with your dad starting tomorrow. Get started on your algebra homework.” 

With that, T.J gave his mom a salute of agreement and raced off down the hallway to his room. 

Jack yawned, “That kid’s going places,” 

“I still can’t believe you were willing to condone his actions,” Nikki scoffed, “He used his powers during school of all places!” 

“What can I say? His intentions were good!” Jack protested, “He stood up against a racist, and a Uni-phobe (the 21st century term for people against Uniques). He managed to kill two birds with one stone, aren’t you glad that he’s getting a head-start on identifying assholes like that shithead?” 

“You’re only saying it because that’s what you would have done when we were teens.” Nikki pointed out.

“What, and you wouldn’t have thrown hands too if someone were to do the same thing to your children?” Jack retaliated coolly. 

She facepalmed, “Oh my god, Jack…” 

Jack laughed and placed his arms over Nikki’s shoulders in a form of embrace, tenderly asking, “Remember what I said back at the rooftop garden a couple years back?” 

Nikki’s eyes softened as she gazed into her husband’s biceps. “When you said that you were going to change the world? Definitely.”

“I think we’ve actually done it. For real. Our kids live in a world where they won’t be discriminated against for their powers just like me and Jay back then, and won’t hesitate to stand up for what’s right. No more crazy doomsdays that would endanger even more Unique lives, everything’s simply perfect.” Jack proudly declared.

Looking out onto the buzzing skyline of Seattle, the couple were reminded of what they did to earn the future they have today. 

More importantly, they had each other. They had the future that they dreamed of and so much more. That was all that mattered. 

It still didn’t hurt to dream for the better.


End file.
